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The average cost to build a website in 2016

I was asked, how much is the average cost to build a website? As we head into 2016, here are some factors to consider before you take the plunge.

First, the price is influenced by what you want and what you need. Do you only require something that is a brochure style? That means you would have a few basic pages: home, about, product/services, contact. Or do you require a more advanced site with features such as a blog, CMS-integrated design and programming, and dynamic content? (Most of my designs, for example, fall under the latter…and I love, love doing this work. Tons of fun and opportunity to create something original and enticing.)

I found this super infographic (check out the whole image, below) at whoishostingthis.com and I think it has some helpful information. Anyone considering hiring a web designer should do their research before jumping into bed with any individual designer or larger company. Why? If for any other reason, because there is a broad spectrum of pricing and possibilities; all of which climb ever-higher as your own imagination and creativity grow.

If you do a search for average cost of building and maintaining a website, you’ll find a range of pricing, but most start in the $1,500 to $2,000 range for very basic websites covering 10 or fewer pages before quickly climbing into the tens of thousands of dollars for anything beyond the most basic designs.

Aside from the basic costs to design a professional-looking website, don’t forget to include the annual costs for hosting in addition to many items typically charged on an hourly basis: original graphics design, web content (e.g. text, editing, photos/video/graphics and updates), additional plug-ins, coding and various maintenance. That hourly basis generally averages $50 to $150 per hour depending upon the amount and complexity of the work.

As well, whenever you add any type of shopping cart, the design and hosting fees tend to climb significantly higher and can easily carry the cost into $10,000 range or more.

Oh, and generally, these fees don’t include design or maintenance of social media pages, or any related marketing materials that use the website’s graphics and are printed; e.g., pamphlets, postcards and mailers, business cards, fliers, posters, and so on.

Time is money

Regardless of whether you build your own site using a free platform, pay for hosting and a unique web address, or only want to update the site after it’s been designed and constructed by someone else, don’t forget to include the actual time it takes to produce these items for your business, blog, etc.

Any web designer will tell you, these are not quickie tasks…especially when you get into coding, securing original graphics designs, building forms, and building e-Commerce capabilities.

As someone who does a lot of this work (web design, web content and graphics design), it’s frustrating when someone is riding your ass as though a week’s worth of work will only take a few minutes to complete. I have many years of deadline-driven journalism under my belt, but most of my editors have more patience than some people I’ve had to accommodate over the years.

Family members take the cake on those demanding hissy fits. My husband often notes how he is amazed how some people in my family who will remain unnamed–for now–will treat me and other people like shit as we are trying to help them. Inspiring, eh? Boy, there’s a Greek tragedy for another time. What’s the line? To paraphrase…You know you’re a writer when you’re about to pass out from the pain, but you still hunt for a pen to write about the experience.

Anyway, if ever you are curious about what’s hidden behind a website’s curtain, hold your cursor over a web page, right click and either choose “View page source” (Ctrl+U on PC), or for a particular item, choose “Inspect” (Ctrl+Shift+I). It’s fascinating.